Compact moustache and beard brush

ABSTRACT

A moustache or beard brush device includes a handle member having a sleeve atop its upper face, said sleeve having at least one open end for the insertion of a user&#39;s finger. The handle member further includes a lower or bottom face, opposite the upper sleeve face. That lower face includes a plurality of bristles extending downwardly therefrom for use in grooming its wearer&#39;s moustache and/or beard.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a perfection of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/584,763, filed on Nov. 11, 2017, the disclosure of which is fully incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to grooming brushes. More particularly, it relates to small (possibly disposable) brushes for men to use when attending to their facial hair, i.e., their moustaches and beards. They may also be used to apply creams and hair dyes to these same facial areas. An alternative version enables the user to keep the outermost shell of his compact grooming brush and swap out (by sliding) replacement brush elements therefor when worn or too soiled, or when changing from a rougher to a finer setting in terms of bristles.

2. Relevant Art

Although conventional brushes are useful in a wide variety of environments, in some circumstances, they are less than desirable. For example, those individuals who desire to maintain facial hair hygiene with topical hair brushes may find them oversized and too bulky to wield about.

There are numerous brushes for human hair, pets and for dental hygiene that are tangentially relevant to this invention. Chronologically, they include: Sanford U.S. Pat. No. 720,847 (1903), Wasserman U.S. Pat. No. 3,018,498 (1962), Gray U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,346 (1961), Rosenbaum U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,390 (1977), Arce U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,172 (1979), Guedel U.S. Design Pat. No. D251,516 (1979), Carr U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,252 (1998), Adams U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,599 (1998), McDevitt et al. U.S. Design Pat. No. D494,369 (2004), Abada U.S. Pat. No. 6,808,068 (2004), Otsuji et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,810,553 (2004), King U.S. Design Pat. No. D562,005 (2008), De Laforcade U.S. Pat. No. 7,401,612 (2008), Wagner U.S. Design Pat. No. D738,626 (2015) and Dixon Published U.S. Patent Application No. 2016/0324289 (2016).

Yet, none of the foregoing meets the needs of this invention, i.e., a small grooming brush into which just one finger is (repeatedly) slid for closely manipulating the bristle bottom of that brush about a man's moustache and/or beard. This invention is relatively small, portable in one's pocket yet can allow for fuller user control by a relatively tight insertion of just one manipulating finger in a sleeve atop of said brush bottom. Such devices are intended for repeated reuse, but after some time may become readily disposable, or possibly have the bristle portions thereof removed and replaced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally directed to a moustache or beard brush device. The device includes a handle member having a sleeve atop its upper face, said sleeve having at least one open end for the insertion of a finger. The handle member further includes a lower or bottom face, opposite the upper sleeve face, said lower face having a plurality of bristles extending downwardly therefrom such that when a user's finger is inserted into the upper sleeve, the device can be used for brushing one's own moustache and/or beard.

In general, the device of this invention can have various sub-structures and can be constructed from numerous materials, including plastic or wooden handles, a rubbery (or spandex-style) finger sleeve and a plurality of bristles synthetically made from looped plastic or fabric, or from natural brush-like materials.

Soft bristles can be formed according to various methods. For instance, a knitted or woven fabric containing loop bristles can be used. Looped bristles can be needle-punched into a base web. Alternatively, loop bristles can be formed through a hydro-entangling process or can be formed through a molding process.

Representative soft bristles can be formed from various types of yarns. For instance, the loop bristles can be formed from a multi-filament yarn, a monofilament yarn, or a spun yarn. Further, the yarn used to form these bristles can be texturized and/or can be shaped.

In accordance with the present invention, various additives can be applied to the user's moustache and/or beard with the foregoing brush. Examples of suitable additives include, but are not limited to, moisturizers, hair waxes and dyes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of the brush device before a finger gets inserted into its sleeve per one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a left side perspective view of the brush from FIG. 1 with a user's pointer finger installed into the open right end of the finger sleeve;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the brush of this invention on a finger per FIG. 2 above;

FIG. 4 is a left side perspective view of a second embodiment of brush according to this invention;

FIG. 5A is a side perspective view of the brush from FIG. 4;

FIG. 5B is a side perspective view of a third embodiment of brush having a longer, dome-shaped finger sleeve that nearly extends from brush end-to-brush end;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the brush from FIGS. 4 and 5A;

FIG. 7 is an axial plan view of the open finger end for the brush at FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a side perspective view of the user's finger slid into an open-at-both ends brush, or third embodiment of this invention; and

FIG. 9 is an axial plan view of an alternate version of the FIG. 4 brush, but with an exchangeable

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Each example of this invention is provided by way of explanation, not limitation. In fact, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment, can be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claim and its equivalents.

In general, the present invention is directed to a grooming brush that can be used at any time during the day, and at multiple times through the day, for cleaning, combing and/or massaging one's moustache and/or beard. Of course, sideburns are naturally included in the latter term. To some extent, this same brush can be used with its soft bristles to also attend to the user's top head hair (or scalp). With repeated (regular) use of this invention, it is expected that scalp and facial hair stimulations will further stimulate the surrounding skin of its user thereby helping to train and even possibly enhance hair growth in these regions.

Because of its small, compact size, the present invention may be easily stored away, discretely, in one's pants pocket or jacket, when not in use. Periodic cleaning, with soap and water, is recommended. Though in still other applications, this same brush can be used to apply certain treatments to the user's moustache and/or beard. These include moisturizers, waxes and in still other instances, hair dyes.

In general, each of these brush variations includes a main body component, or handle, from which a top face includes a finger sleeve and from which the opposite (or lower/bottom) surface, a plurality of soft bristles permanently extend. In still other variations, not shown, the entirety of this invention may be slipped into an outer case for better protecting the latter bristles, and the upper finger sleeve from accidental damage.

The looped bristles that can be used in the present invention can vary depending upon the particular application. For instance, the stiffness of the looped bristles can be varied by varying different factors, including the height of the loop, the inherent properties of the looped material, the fiber diameter, fiber type, and any post-formation treatments (e.g. chemical coatings) that may be performed on such looped materials.

In general, the height of the looped bristles should be short enough so as to not snag on clothing (e.g., a shirt collar) when in use, but still be sufficiently long to serve as some sort of massaging element. The height of these looped bristles on a loop material can be homogenous or heterogeneous. In one embodiment, the looped bristles can be arranged in rows and/or columns. They may sparsely spaced apart or densely packed together.

The loop material can be made in a number of different ways. For example, the loop can be a woven fabric or a knitted fabric. In one embodiment, the loop material is made by needle punching loops into a substrate. In other embodiments, the loop material can be formed through a hydro-entangling process or molded, such as through an injection molding process. Of course, any other suitable technique known in the art for producing looped bristles can also be used.

The looped bristles can be made from various natural or synthetic materials. For instance, the bristles can be made from polyester, nylon, polypropylene, polyethylene, polylactic acid, or various other polymers. The looped bristles can also be made from natural fibers, including cotton or wool. The looped bristles can be made from monofilament yarns, multi-filament yarns, or spun yarns.

In one embodiment, the elastic finger sleeve member can be a necked stretch bonded laminate. As used herein, a necked stretch bonded laminate is defined as a laminate made from the combination of a neck bonded laminate and a stretch bonded laminate. A necked stretch bonded laminate can be made with a nonwoven facing that is texturized.

The dimensions of the dental wipe that is formed in accordance with the present invention may vary. One such embodiment, however, measured about 3 to 3¼ inches in overall length, about 1 inch wide and 1 inch tall/high. The sleeve would be designed for fitting the finger of an adult or teen though for some smaller grooming applications, it can also be minimally adjusted (or shrunk) to fit on a child's finger.

In the various views of multiple embodiments, common components are commonly numbered though in the next hundred series. As such, brush main body may be 12, 112 and 212. It is to be understood that for all versions of this invention, there is a corresponding second alternative, like the representative version axially shown in accompanying FIG. 9, in which the brush main body consists of an outer shell that can be slid over replacement inserts of bristles components—for periodic swapping out as discussed in more detail below.

Reference now will be made in detail to the first embodiment of this invention, FIGS. 1 through 3, in which the moustache and beard brush 10 comprises a main body component 12. That main body component includes a top face 14, an underside 16, two side edges 18L and 18R, a front end 20F and a rear end 20R opposite of front end 20F.

Along a significant majority of top side 14, there is situated finger sleeve 30 into which the user's finger F is inserted for installing the brush 10 thereon. In this first embodiment, finger sleeve has one closed end 32, one open end 34 and a somewhat cylindrical sleeve body 36 extending between the open and closed ends.

Along most, if not all, of underside 16, there is positioned a plurality of looped bristle material 40 that make up the brush bottom to this invention. As shown in FIG. 1, 18 representative rows R of such bristle materials 40 are shown side-by-side-by side. There are also multiple columns C of such bristle materials 40. Per accompanying FIG. 7, one can see a representative brush having 8 such bristle columns arranged side-by-side-by-side.

In a second embodiment of brush 110 per accompanying FIGS. 4, 5A, 6 and 7, there is an alternate version of finger sleeve (or attachment 130) along its top side 114. In this first alternate version, the user's finger slides into more of a tunnel T made by stretching finger sleeve material 130M from side edge to side edge, 118L to 118R of top side 114. The tunnel T forms since sleeve 130 has only two open ends 134F and 134R on either side of sleeve body 136 rather than an open end with a closed end equivalent at its second end.

In the third version of this invention (FIG. 8), the finger tunnel T for attachment is less pronounced. The sleeve 230 to brush 210 does not really extend from side-to-side but rather only over a good portion (i.e., a majority) of that version's top side 214.

Yet another variation of brush 310 is shown in accompanying FIG. 5B. In that side view, it is not expressly evident but sleeve 330 is made from a more flexible, giving material so as to allow its user to slide his finger INTO its one open end 334 along that sleeve's sleeve body 336 until almost adjacent the sleeve's other, closed end 332. With greater flexibility, there is greater “fit” of the brush proper to the wearer's finger. Alternately (and NOT shown) the closed end 332 of sleeve 330 may further include one or more air holes so as to allow for easier extraction of the finger from this sleeve when moustache/beard grooming is finished.

Finally, in FIG. 9, one representative version of alternate brush attachment is shown in an axial view. Therein, brush 410 has a top side 414 with a pair of side clips 411L and 411R that extend over a somewhat modified (i.e., partially upwardly, inwardly beveled) main body component 412. The latter is purposefully shaped that way so that the finger sleeve 430 of this variation can slide ONTO main body component 412 . . . preferably until it contacts with a locking front pin/clip 450. When the brushes to this final variation get too soiled, or too worn, the main body component can be slid OUT, in the opposite direction from installation, for replacing with a new, or cleaned second brush main body.

Although various embodiments of the invention have been described using specific terms, devices, and methods, such description is for illustrative purposes only. The words used are words of description rather than of limitation. It is to be understood that changes and variations may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention, which is set forth in the following claims. In addition, it should be understood that aspects of the various embodiments may be interchanged both in whole or in part. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained therein. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A compact moustache and beard brush comprising a flat handle member having an upper face with a finger sleeve and a lower face from which a plurality of bristles protrude downwardly.
 2. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 1 wherein the plurality of bristles is made from a soft material suitable for massaging human facial hair.
 3. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 1, which is sized to fit into a pants pocket when not in use.
 4. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 1 wherein the finger sleeve extends across and along most of the upper face of the flat handle member.
 5. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 1 wherein the finger sleeve extends from side to side of the flat handle member.
 6. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 1 wherein the finger sleeve extends from end to end of the flat handle member.
 7. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 1 wherein the finger sleeve includes an opening at one end.
 8. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 7 wherein the finger sleeve includes one or more air holes.
 9. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 1 wherein the finger sleeve includes an opening at both ends.
 10. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 1 wherein the finger sleeve is made from a stretchable, expandable material.
 11. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 1 wherein the plurality of bristles is arranged in side-by-side rows and columns.
 12. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 1 wherein the flat handle member includes one or more grooves for sliding engaging onto the lower face from which the plurality of bristles protrude downwardly.
 13. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 12, which further includes means for at least temporarily locking the flat handle member to the lower face.
 14. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 12 wherein the lower face can be removed from the flat handle member and replaced with another lower face.
 15. A compact moustache and beard brush comprising a flat handle member having an upper face with a finger sleeve and a lower face from which a plurality of bristles protrude downwardly, said finger sleeve extending across most of the upper face of the flat handle member and having an opening at at least one end in which to insert a human finger.
 16. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 15 wherein the finger sleeve extends from side to side of the flat handle member.
 17. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 15 wherein the finger sleeve includes one or more air holes.
 18. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 15 wherein the finger sleeve includes an opening at both ends.
 19. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 15 wherein the finger sleeve is made from a stretchable, expandable material.
 20. The compact moustache and beard brush of claim 15 wherein the plurality of bristles is arranged in side-by-side rows and columns. 